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Senate votes 61-20 to remove Brazil’s suspended prez Dilma Rousseff
BRASILIA: Brazil’s Senate removed leftist President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday for breaking budgetary laws, in an impeachment process that has polarised
BRASILIA: Brazil’s Senate removed leftist President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday for breaking budgetary laws, in an impeachment process that has polarised the Latin American country and paralysed its politics for nine months.
Senators voted 61-20 to convict Rousseff for illegally using money from state banks to boost public spending. Her conservative former Vice President Michel Temer, who has run the country since her suspension in May, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. A separate vote will be held on whether Rousseff will be barred from public office for eight years. She will be removed permanently from office if 54 of 81 senators vote in favour.
Wednesday’s decision is the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralysed Latin America’s most powerful economy and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending.
Despite never losing an election, Rousseff, who first won power in 2010, saw her support wane, mainly due to decline of the economy.
